Serendipity
by Arctic Bee
Summary: While in the royal library, Fai comes across a story of conflict...and love. Implied Kurofai and Fatherly!AshuraFai Foreshadowing


After reading such cute Kurofai drabbles, I was inspired to write one too! This takes place when Fai's still a young child with Ashura, and contains some –cough-heavy-cough- foreshadowing. I hope to write more of these… there aren't a lot of stories of Ashura being a fatherly!figure D:. And Fai as a non-angst muffin. XD

I originally planned for this to go a little differently, but when typing it took a new direction (:

I was happy to be able to incorporate Hibiya in this story, but I'm afraid she was rather out of character.

Oh one last thing: this is really cheesy and un-beta'd. But I wrote this a long time ago before I started 'officially' reading Tsubasa~.

Disclaimer- I don't own adorable Fai or Ashura-ou. Or Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle for that matter. Boo hoo ;~;

--

It was a snowy day when Fai decided to check out the castle's library. Ashura told him he could visit it anytime but Fai, being rather timid, was afraid to venture in it. Since the snow was too heavy to play outside for longer then a few minutes, Fai finally snuck into the library.

It was huge!

Fai gasped at seeing all the shelves and shelves of books, his bright blue eyes filled with childish wonder. Immediately he ran to the shelves, while his scarf fluttered behind him. Fai ran through every aisle of books until he had run around the whole library. Then panting, he sat down in a chair when a familiar voice rang in his ear.

"Enjoying the library now are you?"

Fai turned around, embarrassed at the sight of his guardian King Ashura. He immediately bowed to the floor, his white cap falling off in the process.

"I'm sorry for intruding!" Fai said immediately, wringing his hands together. "B..but you said I could visit the library any time I wanted and…"

As Fai looked up to his 'father figure' with huge, worry-filled blue eyes, Ashura patted him on the head and put his hat back on.

"It's alright Fai. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm rather glad you discovered the library." Ashura smiled, and Fai's cheeks lit up a bit at the attention. "However, I was afraid that you would have trouble finding a book."

At this Fai blinked innocently as his eyes traveled across the entirety of the library. "How could you only choose one?!" Fai squeaked, reading the title of book after book in the distance. "There's so many of them! I could never read them all."

"Then how about this one?"

The raven-haired king put a small picture book in Fai's gloved hands, as the boy looked up at him inquisitively. Ashura smiled again and read the title aloud. "Serendipity"

"Se-ren-di-pity?" Fai sounded out the syllables, confused at the strange word on the cover of the book. "Ashura-ou what does serendipity mean?"

"Why don't you read the book and find out? I picked it especially for you Fai. It's a famous legend in our country." Ashura gestured towards a fluffy chair in the corner where Fai sat to read, not after thanking the Royal Highness several times, and curling up in the chair contently.

The king then made his way out of the room, as an advisor called out for him.

"Your highness! We have an problem with the neighboring country…Oh" She paused, knowing how angry Ashura got when his time with Fai was interrupted. Every since he had brought the young boy back from his destroyed kingdom, Ashura had become his dotting father. Any moment he wasn't sleeping, or discussing matters with the royal council was spent with the young blond boy. The advisor couldn't help but be fond of him as well. While the boy was extremely quiet, he was very polite and had the most beautiful eyes that she had ever seen.

"I'm right here." Ashura followed the woman out the room, and the two silently began to talk while walking down the halls of the royal castle.

"Your majesty, I apologize for interrupting your time with Fai…"

"It is alright." Ashura waved off her concern with his hand, and then ran it through his ebony hair. "I was merely showing him around the royal library. You suggested I should do that right, Hibiya-san?"

Chitose smiled softly as she remembered the scene she had accidentally walked in on. "He looked very happy. I had been worried for him recently, since those events earlier but he seems to be doing fine." Suddenly, another matter came to mind. "Your highness, if it is alright for me to ask, what book did you give to the young prince?"

"Serendipity of course. I thought it was a story that suited him well."

--

Fai opened the first page of the book slowly, marveling in its treasure. It had been so long since he read a book. The last memory he had was his mother late at night, reading a story to rock him and his twin brother asleep.

Fai put a hand on his heart at this, since it hurt so much to remember. But Ashura assured him his mother was in a better place and Fai…he would be able to bring back Fai soon. But for now he'd steal his name…

Fai shook his head and opened the book, where the ever famous words 'once upon a time' greeted him. He then drifted into the story about the young princess Failina…

_Once upon a time in a strange land far away lived a princess named Failina. Failina was a beautiful girl, with long blond hair, and deep cerulean eyes. She was always happy, and her smiles always cheered up the people of the kingdom. Despite having so many fans, and a nice life as a princess in the kingdom Failina was not as happy as she liked to portray. However, she didn't want to worry the townspeople so she hid her worries behind her smile. _

_One day however, the king Fei Long became jealous of Failina's popularity and good looks. He had her locked in a tower where she would never be able to see the people in the village again. Day after day Failina cried knowing that she could not be saved. Then one day she heard a voice at the bottom of the tower, so she went to the window and called out to the person below. In response she heard a man speak._

"_Yo is somebody up there?"_

_As the two of them had a conversation, Failina discovered that his name was Kuropne, a farmer's son who got lost on the way to the nearby village. Though Failina initially annoyed him, Kuropne soon grew to be rather fond of her (thought he'd never admit it) and spent every day talking to her from the bottom of the tower. Then one day after Failina told him about how Fei Long locked her up there Kuropne decided he would help her escape. Day after day he stood by the tower, trying to find a way to break through. And day after day he failed. So, disappointed in himself Kuropne would just talk to the beautiful but sad princess at the top of the tower._

_One day however, the princess became sick. It was gradual at first, a cough, a sneeze, and then a headache. It soon got to the point where she couldn't even mask it with her smiles. Kuropne was worried, but Failina would always manage to avoid the topic, ignoring his concern. Even now, it's said she was suffering from heartbreak, loving Kuropne, but believing he'd never love her in return._

_Meanwhile, the town was in horrible condition. Disease and poverty ravaged the land, brought on by Fei Long's terrible ruling. The residents looked for answers to their misery and at last one arose._

'_Burn the Princess.'_

_So one fateful day while she was sleeping, and Kuropne was on the fields, Fei Long had Failina dragged out of the castle and into the kingdom. There they put her on a stick over a pot and prepared to burn her to death. The princess cried out in horror. Why was this happening to her? How could she stop it! She wasn't ready to die… she screamed out the only name she could remember. _

"_KUROPNE!"_

_As the pot began to grow hotter, Failina closed her eyes, whimpering but accepting the fate that was going to become hers. M..maybe it would be better off if she was dead. Perhaps the mob of people standing before her would finally be happy. As the community watched Failina with eager eyes, something miraculous happened._

_Out of nowhere a man ran in and slashed the ropes that held Failina on the stick and several guards who stood in the way, before running off with the princess in his arms. Several people screamed for him to be captured, but anybody who came near got slashed to death. When he managed to get to the outskirts of town, Kuropne jumped on a house, controlling the reigns while still holding on to Failina._

_After a while her hazy eyes began to open and take in the sights around her. Immediately Failina saw Kuropne and began to flinch away before his one free arm kept her still._

"_Don't move." He grunted as her tear-filled eyes looked up at him desperately, confused and scared. "Your safe now idiot, so don't say anything either." Kuropne then looked away, hoping to keep the rising blush off his face. She looked so beautiful looking up at him like that…_

_The princess took a while to take it in before wrapping her arms around her hero, Kuropne, with a huge smile. "You saved me Kuro-popo! Thank you very much!"_

_And as he rode on, Kuropne didn't feel like complaining about the cutesy nickname because it would bring attention to the now full-blown blush on his face. _

_They rode on until they found a small village where nobody knew of the princess Failina and the curse that she supposedly brought on the village's people. The village accepted them as their own. They lived there for a long time before they finally died under a small oak maple tree near the outskirts of town. And their ashes were blown into other worlds to be reborn again._

_They had been drawn together by Serendipity, and Serendipity would soon draw them together once again._

_The End_

Fai put the book down, bawling as he read the end. The poor princess Failina, the noble prince Kuro-popo and the horrible community tricked by the evil Fei Long. One question still lingered in his mind though, WHAT was Serendipity? What had drawn the two together and what would draw them together once more?

"Finished the book already, now have you little Fai?"

"Y…yes Ashura-ou!"

Fai jumped off the chair to bow to the king, but instead the man sat in it and gestured for Fai to sit on his lap. "There's no need to bow to me Fai. For in this kingdom, you're like a prince."

"A prince?"

Fai remembered lightly the days when he was the cursed twin prince of his kingdom but forced himself to stay optimistic for Ashura. The King could kick him out of the kingdom if he saw the first sign of weakness after all.

"T…the girl in the book was a princess..."

"That's right." Ashura opened the pages of the book where the pictures of the lonely Failina and the farmer Kuropne greeted him. "This has always been my favorite story. I always hoped I could be like the Princess Failina."

"M..me too!" Fai jumped on Ashura's lap, retracing the pictures of Kuropne. "I wonder if the Prince Kuro-popo could exist in our world either." He seemed like a wonderful person, who was secretly shy and romantic behind his gruff exterior that he showed in the story. "And if he does… he'll find his Failina again right? Serendipity brought them together the first time so it'd do it again!"

"Fai…" Ashura started slowly, as the young blond boy looked up at him. "Do you know what serendipity is?"

Fai shook his head slowly.

"Well... serendipity is finding what you never knew you wanted." Fai thought about this for a second, in an adorable 'thinking position'.

"Will serendipity find me Ashura-ou?"

"Of course." He said with a smile, rubbing the top of Fai's head as the boy giggled lightly. "Serendipity even finds tyrants like me."

"Nuhuh!" Fai crossed his arms and frowned. "You aren't a tyrant at all Ashura-ou! You're a great leader! Everybody inside and outside the palace says so!"

The king laughed and then held Fai close. "It's funny you should say that Fai. After all, you're my gift from serendipity."

Fai blushed, unused to hearing such kind words. Ashura put a hand to his hand to his head in mock-concern. "Are you alright? Your face is rather red…"

"N..No! I'm fine Your Majesty!"

"What happened to calling me Ashura Fai?"

"I…I mean Ashura-ou!"

Chitose watched from the doorway, laughing to herself at the little Fai. No wonder the king was so eager to get out of the meeting. Who wouldn't enjoy spending time with that little child? She recalled the story they were talking about, Serendipity, very well. She had written it after all.

Because in the future, Fai would find his Kuro-popo through serendipity, and live that same happily ever after.

-Fin


End file.
